Life is like a Bubble -
I was reading Mir Taqi Mir's ghazal about life being like a bubble and remembered similar words from Guru Tegh Bahadur today. Our time on Earth is fleeting and ephemeral, just like the fragile and temporary nature of soap bubbles. Bubbles are beautiful and captivating while they last, but they are also very fragile and can burst at any moment. Similarly, life can be filled with moments of beauty and joy, but it is also unpredictable and can end abruptly.
Just like a bubble, life can be full of vibrancy and color, reflecting the beauty and diversity of the world around us. But, like a bubble, life is also limited in its capacity and scope. Each individual life is unique and special, just like each bubble that floats in the air, but they are also fleeting and ultimately impermanent.
These poems for me are a reminder to live in the present moment and appreciate the beauty and wonder of life while it lasts. Just as a soap bubble is most beautiful when it is at its fullest and most vibrant, our lives are most meaningful when we are fully engaged in the present moment, appreciating the world around us and living our lives to the fullest.
Lyrics transliterated in English - Hasti Apni Habab Ki Si Hai
Translation - 9/22/20
My existence is like a bubblethis exhibition is a mirage.
The softness of her lips
Is like the petals of a rose.
Open your eyes to this world,
It’s condition is like a dream
I went to my love’s door again and again,
I am restless now again.
From your mole to your eyebrows,
It seems like a selected couplet in poetry.
When I spoke then they said
This is the same voice of ruin
Perhaps heart was roasted in grief’s fire
For long it smells like a kabab
Look this time like the clouds,
my eyes are full of water
'Mir' those half open eyes have,
all the intoxication of wine
Translation 1/19/24
Is this a bubble or my life?
Is this show a mirage?
Are these rose petals
or your lips?
Walking to your door again and again
or am I just crazy now?
Is this the sound of a cursed hound
or just me speaking?
Are those half lid eyes, Mir,
or a 100 proof shot?
Translation by Raza Mir
Hasti Apni Hubaab Ki Si HaiYe numaaish saraab ki si hai
My Life, like a bubble, is transient
This show, like a mirage, evanescent
Naazuki us ke lab ki kya kahiye
Pankhudi ek gulaab ki si hai
Exquisite, those lips that lie in repose
Delicate as the petals of a rose
Baar baar us ke dar pe jaata hoon
Haalat ab iztiraab ki si hai
Again and again I go to that door
In a state of panic, need I say more?
Main jo bola kaha ke ye aawaaz
Usi khana-kharaab ki si hai
I spoke and everyone guessed that this sound
Belonged perhaps to that wretched, cursed hound
Mir, un neem-baaz aankhon mein
Saari masti sharaab ki si hai
Those half-lidded eyes of that love of mine
Mir, they bear all the headiness of wine
Source: The Taste of Words: An Introduction to Urdu Poetry. Edited and Translated by Raza Mir
Lyrics in Hindi
Gurbani on Life as a Bubble
Jio supnā ar pekẖnā aise jag kao jān.
In mai kacẖẖ sācẖo nahī Nānak bin bẖagvān. ||23||
Know this world is like a dream and a show.
None of this is true, O Nanak, without God. ||23||
Jaise jal ṯe buḏbuḏā upjai binsai nīṯ.
Jag racẖnā ṯaise racẖī kaho Nānak sun mīṯ. ||25||
As the bubbles in the water well up and disappear again,
so is the universe created; says Nanak, listen, O my friend! ||25||
English Poetry Using the Bubble Metaphor
The metaphor of life being like a bubble is a common one in English literature as well and has been used in various poems throughout history. Here are a few examples:
"The Bubbles of the Foam" by Emily Bronte:
In this poem, Bronte compares life to the fleeting bubbles of foam on a river, emphasizing how quickly life passes and how easily it can be forgotten:
"Down the dimpled, dancing river,
With a rippling, shining motion,
With a whirlpool's leaping fury,
And a flashing, foam-born notion!
Life, like bubbles on the river,
Sparkling, changing, born and dying,
Lulled awhile from its wild motion,
Glitters, quivers, and goes flying."
"A Bubble" by Robert Frost:
In this short but powerful poem, Frost uses the metaphor of a bubble to represent the fragility and impermanence of life:
"A winter day
In a deep and dark December;
I am alone,
Gazing from my window to the streets
Below
On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow.
I am a bubble,
An iridescent bubble,
Caught in a frozen web
Between the sun and moon."
"Life's Bubble" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox:
Wilcox's poem uses the bubble metaphor to emphasize the importance of living life to the fullest, as the bubble can burst at any moment:
"Life is but a bubble,
Fraught with every hue,
Born to shine and sparkle,
For a moment's view.
Then it bursts forever,
Leaving but a drop,
Its unbounded brightness
Blighted in a stop."
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